Historic Brighton pub changes hands

One of the oldest pubs in Brighton has been sold to one of Britain’s biggest pub companies.

The Druid’s Head, in Brighton Place, off East Street, is now owned by Mitchells and Butlers after M&B bought almost all the pubs owned by its smaller rival Orchid.

The flint-fronted building has housed a pub since 1825, according to the Encyclopaedia of Brighton.

The £266 million deal included 173 pubs and Orchid’s head office.

M&B already owns more than a dozen pubs, bars and eateries in the Brighton and Hove area.

These include the Pump House, the Font and the Royal Pavilion Tavern, Browns and All Bar One – all within half a mile of the Druid’s Head.

M&B also owns the Madeira, on the seafront, the Katarina, at Brighton Marina, the Park View, in Preston Drove, the Withdean Sportsman and the Black Lion, in Patcham.

It runs the Sussex Cricketer, in Hove, the Grenadier, in Hangleton, the Sussex Hotel, on Hove seafront, and the Devil’s Dyke Hotel.

And it has the Saltdean Tavern and the Smuggler’s Rest, formerly known as the Badger’s Watch and previously the Lifeboat Inn, in Telscombe Cliffs.